PLEASE NOTE THIS IS COPIED OVER FROM MY FACEBOOK, WHERE I STILL USED THE ANNUAL MODEL OF POSTING, THERE MAY BE SOME REFERENCES TO THIS MODEL, JUST IGNORE THEM.
hello again everyone. I know we all have a lot to be doing right now, with the pandemic and all, but I was just hoping to quickly share something with you this year. Today, as anyone who has seen what I post here before would know, is World Autism Awareness day. Each year for the last 2 years, I've made a little post today about autism or my life with it. This year, I wanted to do something different.
This year, I was reading an article a few weeks ago about someone who is a mother of three autistic daughters, I don't remember where I found it, and about all of the exploitation brought upon them by companies and people they thought they could trust. This brings me onto the topic of the post this year. Exploitation.
Many people believe we actually have it really easy. We have all of these charities, autism is one of the most recognized disorders in the world. You'd be wrong. Many autistic people suffer from abuse and exploitation from both people they thought they could trust, friends, family, even the charities claiming to help! I think someone who edited a Wikipedia page for the group "Autism Speaks" put it best:
"Autism Speaks Inc. (AS) is the largest autism hate group in the United States. It sponsors autism eugenics and believes that autism is a f**king illness" - says a lot, doesn't it? The people they're supposed to be helping have this to say? They don't help.
It's reasons like these that I make this post today. I know that I myself have been lucky to grow up in a family who care for me, and I have grown up to live a life where I am happy, healthy, and a functioning member of society, but over HALF of all autistic adults say that at some point in their life, they were abused by either a friend or family member who they felt they could trust.
so please, I know we're all taking it one day at a time, and we're all sitting here, not sure what tomorrow will bring, we're all in the same boat, but please, lets put one day aside today for thinking about a group of people who are so poorly represented, in a time of what many call "information overload" where we all know it all, now's the time to actually begin to try to UNDERSTAND what we think we know.
to those of you who have read this whole message, thank you for putting aside a few minutes of your likely very busy day to read the ramblings of a teenager with an Asperger's diagnosis. Have a nice day everyone, and stay safe!
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